Sub-Saharan Africa

EnCompass designed and implemented 17 field-based studies to understand and document costs, and to assess and improve the cost-effectiveness of specific quality improvement approaches and methodologies applied by improvement collaboratives in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Studies focus on HIV/AIDS and maternal, child, and neonatal health initiatives.

USAID’s PPL seeks to link policy, planning, learning, evaluation, research, donor coordination, and innovation through science and technology. In collaboration with USAID PPL, EnCompass designed and conducted an evaluative process that explored how well USAID’s Program Cycle has been understood, implemented, supported, and integrated into the organizational culture among missions and in USAID Washington.

EnCompass conducted an evaluation for the USIP that assessed the effectiveness of a program to train new South Sudanese diplomats, and to build capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do the training in the future. Data collection in the field included interviews and focus groups with trainers, alumni, and government officials.

EnCompass conducted a mid-term evaluation of LWR’s five-year strategic plan. The team analyzed the effectiveness of implementation and management of the plan, whether the staff embraces the plan, and the extent to which the plan reflects work being done in the field. The evaluation process included a staff survey, interviews, an appreciative workshop and virtual focus groups with field teams, conducted via Adobe Connect. The analysis used outcome mapping to assess LWR’s logic model and the cohesion of various plan components.

EnCompass provided technical assistance to the Government of Botswana’s Ministry of Education and Skills Development to support the implementation of a curriculum to build life skills for school-going youth. The curriculum, Living Skills for Life: Botswana’s Window of Hope, is part of a major HIV prevention effort that targets every primary and secondary school student in the country.

EnCompass conducted an assessment of the Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorism Partnership (TSCTP) in Mali to gain a better understanding of what has worked in Mali to mitigate support for violent extremism. Through a desk review and extensive fieldwork, EnCompass assessed the current TSCTP program, and provided recommendations to target, reinforce, and replicate the best practices by using community-based, youth-based, and media outreach efforts.

EnCompass was a subcontractor to John Snow, Inc. for the AIDS Support and Technical Assistance Resources Program Task Order 1 (AIDSTAR-One), a mechanism to implement the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The AIDSTAR-One Project focused on HIV prevention, care, and treatment. EnCompass provided expertise in quality improvement, cost-effectiveness, policy, and gender equality.

As the evaluation and technical assistance partner for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Global Libraries program, EnCompass helped explore ways in which libraries, as part of multi-sectoral partnerships, could support quick and efficient delivery of sustainable solutions to development challenges.

EnCompass supported the launch of a comprehensive strategy to intensify the fight against HIV/AIDS in the workplace throughout World Bank country offices. EnCompass conducted needs assessments, developed a results framework, and promoted learning activities and train-the-trainer workshops in six World Bank regions. EnCompass designed training approaches for World Bank staff in five regions of the world on HIV/AIDS.

To help raise the skills of country-level United Nations technical staff in leading HIV prevention efforts and reducing new infections, EnCompass designed four customized regional workshops for staff in Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The curriculum addresses knowing the epidemic and response, national strategic planning, leadership skills, gender equality and human rights, cost analysis and best practices in prevention interventions.